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As in the clock spot, the takeaway is this: don’t drive the piano (not very smooth, says the ad). Instead, drive the (smooth) ATS — which is available with Magnetic Ride Control:

The GMA Authority Take

While we watched in stunned bewilderment as the piano fell apart all over the place, we couldn’t help but feel sorry for the fine musical instrument. And that makes us wonder if luxury car buyers will appreciate watching the destruction of fine musical instruments… we can already hear some folks calling the Luxperiments distasteful, even though this one does make a certain point about the ATS’ finely-tuned suspension system.

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I find this very distasteful, if you’re trying to make something world class, you present it in a manner that is refined and classy. This ad represents everything against what Cadillac is trying to do for the future. I mean true this is just an ad, but be that as it may, I hope they do not proceed in such a manner.

Good point, this is in bad taste and may hurt the car’s image. This ad is what you might use to sell a Yaris or Focus to a Gen Y kid, but Toyota & Ford would not be so stupid. WHAT is Cad management thinking?
They should just copy the 3 Series ads which are pretty classy in my market, or the current MBZ ads showing the safety of the car, then rolling up to a blue carpet “event” at the end- like the buyer would do, or like to do.
This ad looks like a REAL cheesy attempt to attract a Gen Y buyer? It’s trying way to hard, and why? The average age of a Mustang buyer is 55, Scion (pre FRS) was 52. So the median ATS buyer has to be 47 or so. Would THIS ad appeal to them?
Go back and hire Kate Walsh, she’s a MILF that everyone still likes to looks at, better than this junk.

I can see the angle here. The piano is a metaphor for “old luxury,” and the ad is trying to convey that the brand, and the ATS, isn’t some stodgy, old-hearted vehicle that some people still perceive Cadillacs to be. The ATS is a modern, well-tuned machine that puts the driver and performance first.

See I can understand the premise of that, however do people look at luxury to be able to destroy a piano or a clock. No, by no means, what made the initial ATS introduction good is that it portrayed a performance driven car, what made the XTS intro so good, it portrayed the luxury of the vehicle. The same can be said for other luxury marques, look at when Lexus was introduced as a car company, they placed a pyramid of champagne glasses on the hood to demonstrate the quietness and smoothness of the engine bay. Even the commercial for the Impala was very classy, and that’s the flagship of the mainstream brand (true very old fashioned but Sinatra is timeless and the ad was still able to portray a modern Impala). Demonstrating class and power and technology can be done, while maintaining the metaphor of old luxury vs new, but not like this.

Manoli,,,I get your point of course; just so poorly done for anything a Cadillac ad should be…that 80s Cadillac, Cadillac, Cadillac style commercial was at least relevant and had some meaning. I hope the ad team gets it together sooner than later.

This really points out how badly GM needs Mahoney to fix the ineptitude that is apparently rampant in the marketing department. In a company that has made a dramatic turn around and is producing the finest products in the market today it appears the marketing department is simply not up to the quality of the rest of the company. It appears that that the problem in that department goes deeper than Ewanick .

GREAT points. The problem with this juvenile Cad ad is that it is competing image-wise with an ad like this from MBZ. This ad could be scene as a little trite by some, BUT it has all the right elements: great imagery, rich white buyers (their casting, not mine), and lots of product shots. Very highbrow, IMHO.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2dtEplKJPg
You bring up THE salient point, does Cadlac have the management talent needed?

Manoli- Your point is well taken, but I dont get that in this AD or the clock AD… That point is not communicated at all… All I see old or new expensive or not is a piano being destroyed… The context you are portraying does not exist in these commercials… These rediculous childless commercials (another reason I made reference to the frightning but atleast funny Kmart AD). Childish and stupid ADs dont work and for Kmart the AD was a last farwell attempt to resurect the dead… Cadillac is not dead so there is no reason for these pathetic not even remotely humerous totally out of context ADs…